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Bone
Bone is the rigid connective tissue that forms the skeletal framework of the horse. The equine skeleton contains approximately 205 bones, slightly fewer than the human skeleton, organized into the axial skeleton (skull, vertebral column, ribs, sternum) and the appendicular skeleton (the four limbs and their attachment structures). Bone tissue is not inert; it is…
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Blood Horse
Blood horse is a traditional term for a horse of refined, pure breeding, specifically one descended from the hot-blooded Arabian, Barb, and Turkoman stallions imported to Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In its strictest historical sense it refers to the Thoroughbred, whose entire breed is traced through the paternal line to three foundation…
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Tendon
A tendon is a band or cord of dense fibrous connective tissue that anchors muscle to bone, transmitting the contractile force of the muscle across a joint to produce movement. Tendons are composed primarily of parallel bundles of type I collagen, which gives them high tensile strength but limited elasticity. In the horse, the tendons…
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American Saddlebred Horse Breed
The American Saddlebred is a gaited light horse developed in the American South, descended from crosses of the Narragansett Pacer and the Thoroughbred made by colonial breeders in the 1700s. Morgan blood was added in the 1800s to fix the breed’s athleticism and endurance. The result was registered under the name Kentucky Saddler before the…
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Sire
A sire is the male parent of a horse. The term appears in pedigree documentation, where the sire’s name is listed in the upper half of a breeding certificate and the female parent listed alongside the sire (female parent) in the lower half. A reproductive status that enables the sire role can become a sire…
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Sable
Sable in equine color terminology describes a coat pattern in which the body is pale, cream, light gold, or dun, while the points (mane, tail, lower legs, and sometimes the face) are black or very dark. The color takes its name from the heraldic and artistic term for black, which appears in discussions of coat…